Review: Skyrim Spans 16 Square Miles of RPG Excellence

Despite a few hiccups, the latest Elder Scrolls is as engrossing as it is vast.

Between the two of them, Jeremy Parish and Thierry Nguyen have invested more than 125 hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -- enough to see the two main quest lines to completion, but still not enough to have explored all the game has to offer, by far. Still, their combined experiences (not to mention their wildly different play styles) give them a clear sense of Skyrim's strengths and weakness.

Jeremy: Why do you play video games? And what do you expect from them? Do you seek challenge? Entertainment? Competition? Escapism? Relief for boredom? A compelling story? Bragging rights? Intellectual stimulation? Put all of these motives and interests into a matrix; few corners would be left untouched by Skyrim. It's a vast game, as enormous in the physical real estate it occupies as in the breadth of material it provides within those virtual boundaries. About all it doesn't do is multiplayer.

Click the image above to check out all The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens.

This is par for the course in The Elders Scrolls series, to be sure. One might argue that Skyrim is neither as large as Daggerfall nor as deep as Morrowind, and that claim isn't without merit. Where Skyrim stands above its predecessors is in the way it balances its tremendous scope with accessibility. Admittedly, for many gamers -- especially the sort that's been following The Elder Scrolls for a decade or more -- "accessibility" is a dirty word, a hollow euphemism for "dumbed down." And while super-fans may take issue with some of the minute details of this game, the refinements and improvements it adds far outstrip anything that's been lost.

Besides, many of Skyrim's more user-friendly features are optional. Hate the compass system that points your way to the next objective, preferring instead to find your own route? Waypoints are strictly optional. They're but one of many fine additions Skyrim adds to the Elder Scrolls template in its bid to transform a beloved (but not quite blockbuster) series into a mainstream juggernaut. The game looks far more beautiful than 2006's Oblivion, dropping players to do as they please in a sprawling, snow-dappled land and leaving them to interact with hundreds of characters who, for once, aren't hideous. Yet the pleasant graphics and refined controls don't come at the expense of substance; Skyrim is brimming with quests -- hundreds of them, in fact, many of which have been interwoven in an addictive, just-one-more tapestry that should serve as a point of reference for all RPG designers going forward.

Much as we appreciate the simple innovation of Skyrim's not being painful to look at, the complex interlocking nature of the game's numerous quests is easily its finest feature. Developer Bethesda refers to it as the "Radiant Story" system, promising a dynamic story packed with quests that adapt to player's actions and customize the world to their experience. That's probably reaching a bit into the realm of hyperbole, but Skyrim actually does manage to modify quest goals and dialogue on the fly in reaction to your accomplishments.

This is, after all, a game where players are given full freedom to do as they like, and that means sometimes you'll go somewhere and complete a task before the game tells you to. Rather than locking players out with invisible walls or other arbitrary barriers, it simply lets you do as you wish and then rolls with it. Clear out a dungeon before someone tells you to, or collect an ancient relic before it comes into play in the story? No problem; you simply get a new dialogue option that says, "Yeah, I already did that," and your quest giver praises you for being so on-the-ball. Many missions can be initiated in multiple ways, too; I managed to initiate one particular long-term quest by sweet-talking the first relevant person I met. Thierry, on the other hand, managed to offend that guy enough to earn a brushoff, but eventually he figured out an alternate means to get things rolling as well.

Thierry: On your first point, I play different games for a variety of reasons, but Bethesda games -- dating back to Daggerfall -- are games where I just want to be dropped into a world and explore. Give me a landmass, populate it with people willing to give me a task and reward me for it later, and I'm a-okay. And Skyrim, 75 hours later, is a damn good refinement of that basic Bethesda process formula.

Skyrim's Radiant Story system works for the most part; in addition to what Jeremy describes, it also presents itself in ways both subtle and obvious. Pick a side in Skyrim's civil war? Radiant Story makes your allegiance obvious by notifying you that you've just failed the quest objectives for the opposing side. Elsewhere, I'm tasked with investigating a local authority figure, but before doing so I had inadvertently caused a transfer in power via some other quest so that said authority figure no longer had his job. Therefore, a side effect: No need to investigate him.

Where Radiant Story could use some significant extra work, though, is in acknowledging the player after finishing the main "slay the dragon" quest. I didn't join the Companions -- Skyrim's version of the Fighter's Guild -- until after finishing the quest, and one of the characters said, "Well, who's this guy?" I fully admit to yelling at the TV in response: "I'm the fabled Dragonslayer? Did you not notice that I've been killing dragons left and right!?" Other times, characters would threaten me with their extensive contacts within the Dark Brotherhood (the assassin's guild in the Elder Scrolls universe), and I would simply nod and think, "You're talking to someone who finished that quest line."

Comments (175)

very disappointed in Skyrim

I purchased and downloaded the game through Steam. I'm having nothing but problems. The game shuts down without error message, and if it doesn't i'm having graphics issues. My system is by far better then the minimum requirements to play I definitely have the latest drivers installed and I'm not having a virus either.

To make things worse all other games that I have installed on this machine have become instable as well ever since the installation of skyrim. I think the steam software that comes intertwined with the game software itself and gives me plenty of error messages is at the core of the problem. But the game is unplayable without steam or internet connection. Any attempts to resolve the issues with the Steam customer support have so far failed, I'm just getting links to existing forum posts and after hours of trying to realize the suggested changes (and nothing made the game more playable) I'm ready to write this off as the biggest (and most expensive) failure I've ever had with a PC game.

Very sad that review generally not mention that the game can only be played with Steam, requires the player to be online all the time and causes a LOT of problems. Had I known that before hand I would not have purchased.

Admin. offline mode?

Maybe try logging off steam, start steam as administrator in offline mode and see if you can run it that way. This has worked for me with games on steam in the past. I hope you can get it working it really is a great game and it sucks you cant get it working. Good luck!

Please, Shut. Up...

...all the whiny computer nerds out there that cannot overlook the slightest detail of a game whose overall playability is simply amazing for this time. The website is made for the people who actually enjoy the game. Why complain about a game that you don't even play? If you dont enjoy the game, you don't. Come out of your parents' basement, drive yourself to the nearest videogame soft/ hardware wholesaler, sell the game and get out of the other people's hair who actually enjoy the game.

Which also raises yet another question:

What the (in lack of better terms) hell are you doing looking up information-where it be cheats, videos, reviews, what ever it may be- for a game that you don't even like?

Trivial, this logic is.

And to a few other players,-you know who you are- why complain about the passive things? In my opinion, Skyrim is an amazing feat for 30-some-odd people who wanted to create a game that you can play, not stare at the screen, hawking the next little, tiny glitch such as draw distance, little texture mapping flub-ups, or even a slight mis-movement of the characters?

Play the game to enjoy it, not to troll the night away at the people who are here to be included in a community with similar intrests.

Excellent Game But Wasn't Worth My $60 :<

Before people begin to flame at me I just want to say that I play Skyrim every day. I love the Daedric Quests and Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild but the Main story line of the whole game was not exciting at all and very predictable. Granted there were some things I didn't know, like Paarthurnax and Odahviing, but everything about Alduin and the character's story came out of an elementary and cliche storybook. A Nobody in rags finds out they're the Nords' last hope and kills a big dragon. Is this Eragon? I thought this was supposed to be Skyrim! One flaw I found is that unless you were a Nord the story didn't make much sense. Granted Skyrim is Nord territory so making a Nord character would make sense on its own but why give the option to create your own non-Nord character if the legend is predominantly Nordic? Character creation is nice as long as it doesn't warp the story line but it did in this case. If you're going to make a story about the world ending then have it affect every race, not just one.

Speaking of races....let me begin with the Elves, specifically the Bosmer. Many have noted that the Elven races were given a more sinister look with their physical appearance but not all of the races are sinister. The Bosmer are, in fact, the most tolerant race in all of Tamriel and admire other races in some aspects. You might say "But they're cannibals!" Wrong....well, yes they are but they aren't dangerous hardly at all. The Meat Mandate specifically states that a Bosmer must eat his fallen enemy within 3 days' time and his family may aid him in doing so. I suppose there are exceptions but not many. That being said, Bosmers strongly dislike going to war unless in times of starvation and famine because of this. So tell me, why does the most peaceful race in all of Tamriel have a "sinister" appearance? I understand them having shared physical aspects with their fellow Mer races but it shouldn't be as drastic as those with a known sinister history. For instance, the Osmer (Orcs) are of Mer descent but do not share the same physical appearance as other Mer. Bosmer should be given a more "Lovely" (for a lack of better words) appearance since they are a very Romantic race and quite peaceful. And now on to the Bretons. Bretons share the blood of both Man and Mer but from what I've experienced I can't tell the difference between a Breton and a Nord or Imperial. Shouldn't some part of a Breton resemble Mer as well as Man? Exactly!

Now for some other nitpicks. It is truly obvious where Bethesda put more effort than not. I mean the Daedric Quests are more in-depth (some anyways) than the actual story of the game! That shouldn't happen in my opinion. I should want to do the majority of the side quests after finishing the story. I understand they want players to do the main story at their own pace but don't make it so poorly done that I don't want to do it at all! And in the area of armor it couldn't be more blatantly obvious that Bethesda spent more time making Daedric Armor than any other armor. For Gods' sake they didn't even give you Dragon Weapons to go with your Dragon Armor! And okay I understand why the Dragonbone Armor is colored that way since it's bone but what the heck is up with the Dragonscale Armor? I kill a golden Elder Dragon and end up with Blue-ish green colored armor? How does that even make sense?! If I kill a dragon I should end up with armor that matches the color of that dragon's scales. And if I combined those scales I should get really cool looking armor that combines the colors awesomely. The Elven Armor also falls into this situation (sort of). The Elven Armor I see is fit for the Thalmor not a Bosmer or Dunmer. Dunmer are more magic based and they have different colored robes so that makes sense but what about the Bosmer? Shouldn't there be some leathery or woodland looking armor? And with a cape? I've tried using the Leather Armor and the like but they're too...not Bosmer-like to make a lot of sense for my Archer. I often find myself wearing Linwe's Armor or Thieves Guild Armor (Nightingale Armor doesn't really work with the whole full-mask deal for me) just to look like an archer with armor that makes sense (even if it is for thieves and not archers). The Thieves Guild Quests were also obviously more worked on than the Dark Brotherhood Quests. *SPOILER* You kill the Emporer as an assassin and there was some shocking backstabbing but that was it. When I did the Thieves Guild quests I actually had to level up in order to get through the Dwemer city and fight the Falmer. The whole Mercer Frey deal went more in depth than Astrid's too. I was so ticked when I heard the truth about Mercer and Karliah and no matter how badly I wanted to stab the guy right then and there I couldn't because I had been paralyzed by one of Karliah's deadly arrows that had pierced me as soon as I opened a door and frightened me even at first. I was amazed at how Mercer had just been robbing the Guild blind and Nocturnal's involvement in the whole thing. Sithis and the Night Mother are pretty much in control of the Dark Brotherhood but not as much as Nocturnal is with the Thieves Guild. I was hoping to pay Sithis a visit (without having to die) somehow too and get a special order from him or something. But nope, Bethesda was too busy trying to make the Thieves Guild look amazing and leave the Dark Brotherhood in the dust I guess....

Alduin battles: I don't know if any of you noticed but aren't the battles against Alduin very similar. In the first battle you have to fight Alduin and use Dragonsrend every couple of seconds. The second battle is in Sovrngarde where you have to use Clear Skies very frequently and you get 3 Heroes at your side. But in the end you still fight him exactly the same way just with 3 more people at your side and a different setting. How boring it was for me... Why couldn't I jump on his back and fight him and get up in his business in the skies with my ground support and risk being flung off if I wasn't careful? That would've kept me on my feet a little more than shooting him with arrows and sometimes hacking at him like I did the first time I fought him.... Another thing, the Civil War quests were quite boring too. Only two major fights and then some Fort fights that were so small it made me wonder if this was even a real war anyways or just a big battle. I clear out crypts with twice as many enemies by myself with no problem at low levels which makes doing those Fort battles a joke =[

Anyways, other than that it's fun to play and I play it every day and enjoy it as it is...except for the fact I wish I could mod it like the PC users =[ But I'm afraid to get it on PC too and have my computer melt down like before (not because of a video game though). But it's still good enough for me to keep making characters and being the Champion of those lovely Daedric Princes

Denial Anyone.

You have great games like Uncharted3 & Batman Arkham City Gears of War 3 Dark Souls & many more titles with far less glitches then this & some editor gives this an A- & SpikeTv has Skyrim winning the game of the year award. If any other game had as many glitches as Skyrim, they would've never touched an A- Or is it based on the number of glitches a title has in order to win. Whatever happen to being honest with reviews & not rewarding games with numerous mistakes & glitches with a high score or an award. What happen to being honest so game developers can know what to improve & their testers overlooked. This is what encourages the ship now patch & fix later attitudes that many developers have today. Reviews are a matter of that persons opinion & tastes & not your own. You find bugs & glitches then speak up about them don't ignore them, let them know it's not perfect or A ranking material. As a consumer why would you want anything less.

Allow me to disagree

I encountered a freeze in my first few minutes of playing Skyrim, and none yet with both Uncharted 3 and Arkham City. Yet I found myself being pulled into the world of Skyrim far more than with its competitiors. The glitches I've experienced have been small and inconsequential compared with the larger draw of the game, which is its immersive storyline and amazing open world. With other games, I feel like cattle being herded between fields. With Skyrim, I am free to roam the countryside and do pretty much whatever the hell I want. That is what makes this game so great.

Here!

Having little time to play

My time is precious to me and having played Fallout 3 which stalled at a certain point in its story due a glitch, I'm only worried about the quality control of this kind of games since the cost of mangled entertainment is starting to make me think about other way to spend my time.

Great Content, All By My Lonesome!

It is amazing the amount of content that Bethesda was able to squeeze into this game. The steam install said it was under six gigabytes which amazes me. I had a couple of gripes which I think may be pretty common.

The first being that the textures up close were pretty saddening (I first noticed this in the cart in the opening scene), and I continued to notice it throughout the game. Secondly is a distinct lack of cooperative gaming. I realize that some believe this game would be ruined by being able to play with others. I would argue the opposite (at least for myself). This is because when I accomplish taking down a dragon, or I collect some great new armor or delve into an interesting new dungeon I would love to share that experience with someone rather than saying "Hey man, look at my screen real quick!"

Other than those couple of things the sheer depth of content makes it worth the $60 entry point!

My Kind of Game

I loved Morrowind the moment that I began playing it. Ditto for Oblivion and its DLC. Skyrim was a no-brainer for me. This is the kind of game I have loved playing since those days of gathering friends together for an AD&D session.

The main quest seems almost a backdrop to the total, open-world aspect of this game. Case in point, I carry around crap that I should probably leave behind because when I get my own in-game house, I can decorate it with various weapons, armour, etc. (My houses in Oblivion had beds littered with staves, blades, etc. from all my travels.

Yes, I play CODMW3, GT5, Forza, Arkham, Kinect Sports and a whole myriad of games, but I always spend too much free time on games like Skyrim.

not my cup of tea

this game is so dorky, i cringe every time i hear teh dialogue between the characters.. it's just to much for me.. the name of locations, the character names.. the idea of cat people... people singing in taverns.. it all just leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

ive been interested playing it but not as interested as the fallout games which influenced me buying this game. i wish the battles were less cluncky and forced.. like what dragon age 2 did... oh well.

Female, Or idiot?

Obviously you're trolling. Either that or you don't know shit about games, and you're 12 years old. I'm leaning toward the latter considering your grammar and spelling. Dragon Age 2 was a shit of a game compared to this or even DAge 1. If you don't like things that are too much for your imagination to handle, then don't play them. And especially don't comment about them, at least until you finish junior high.

thx for your input

ive been playing it more and ive sorta looked past the dorkiness (i still cringe) and have been enjoying this game. the dragon battlers and exploration are really fun.. i might not know much about games but i can tell that this game has too many glitches to be deserving an A- rating. some time the glitches will prevent me from moving forward with a quest and will have to restart from an earlier saving point (i save often). sometimes i am trying to acces my inventory or select a power during battler and the screen freezes. i still wish the battles were faster pased.

thank you bethesda

i dont see the point in complaining man this game is the shit man its better then great i dont see why you all waste your comment saying bad things about it when basicly every game has problems that need to be fixed or you think the developers should have added something to it even by you all commenting about it proves how big and influence this game is because you had the time to comment about it man this i can easily say and all elder scrolls games , bethesda they make the best games. Also why not make your own game then and do it like you see it then show it to everybody to comment it then think of all the problems you might have in your game overal this is the best game devolpers out there and they work hard for making games for all of you so dont hate man

blown away

Even an A- is way stingy for this incredible game, its been utterly owning me since release day! Just look at how the usually impossible User review sector is flipping over this one... there are enough milk drinkers weighing in to keep the meta down to earth, but ive never seen so many 10s on an RPG in my life. Its the real deal and the final (release patched) product is off the chains perfection. I dare a developer to take the crown of quality and depth from this one.

Liking the level system

Although i intially scoffed at them simplifying it, im actually enjoying it more. It helped rectify the broken leveling up system from Oblivion, and it gives you much more freedom.

When i first started, i was going to do a pure warrior playthrough until i familiarized myself with the game, then start a mage playthrough. However, i came across a lightning spell early on, and really liked how it worked. It wasnt a single bolt, but a continuous spray of electricity. I was having alot of fun using it, so i decided to be a warrior/mage hybrid.

Further along, that spell lost its usefulness, and the later versions were single shot spells, which were more difficult to use since they often miss. My sword was much more reliable, so i went back to it. None of these choices hurt my character growth since i didnt have to decide whether to put points into strength, intelligence, etc. Had this game been like Oblivion, my character would be broken, and id have to restart.

Tempting!

.....but after Dark Souls - i cant take another RPG this year.......Oblivion was nice although combat was terrible and the world was almost too vast......From Software had Bethesda's # and ruined what would have been a perfect time to release this title....

this is not the elder scrolls, its fallout fantasy....

This is a hugely dumbed down elder scrolls, the combat is clunkier than oblivion and any body that thinks its better should question their own intelligence. you don't technically get to level up at all, its how leveling works in C.O.D., which is fine for those games but not a true hardcore rpg series. it feels like a generic open world fantasy action game, two worlds 2 does rpg better than this game, as does bethesda's & obsidian's fallout games. I have to question why alienate your fanbase when they put you where you are? Morrowind and oblivion sold very well, why take everything out that makes it an elder scrolls game? you spend more time in menus on skyrim than either of the 2 previous T.E.S. games, in oblivion you had a button dedicated to casting magic so you could hold a sword and shield and still cast magic. the textures are pixelated, colors are drab the graphics are sloppy, this should not have been the game to test their new engine on. I will admit that the game is enjoyable & I do have fun with it, just not as much as the previous 2. I play on master and completely destroy the weak ass dragons. the giants and higher level draugr are more difficult than the dragons. they said the shouts would put you on a level plane to battle the dragons yet the shouts don't work on the dragons. I had an oblivion save that clocked in at 258 hours and I had days where I played morrowind 20 hours each day and saves that probably ran around the 200 hour mark as well(it was so long ago i dont remember the hours but still have my oblivion save), so I'm not new at this. also if this game is packed with so much more than oblivion and they "had to squeeze it on one disc" why does it only take up 3.8 gb of disc space yet oblivion uses 5.9 gb of space. Now I see bethesda could crap on a dvd and we would still buy it with high hopes and all they care about is pocketing our money. battlefield 3 has the same graphical issues yet they released a day one hi def texture pack to fix the problem, it'd be nice if bethesda still cared as much.

This used to mean something

With The Elder Scrolls, our goal has always been to create a game that offers unlimited possibilities. A game where you could be whoever you wanted and do whatever you wanted. "Live another life in another world" has been our motto and we want you to do just that.

....Really?

You're an idiot. quit your crying already. I love this game and I see no issues with it what so ever. It is far better than Oblivion and I hated Morrowind. Why not just enjoy it instead of tearing it apart and you are really complaing about how much storage space it takes up? Moron.

Its nice...

To see there are so many intelligent in our community that would never lower themselves to personal insults, I'm the moron? I'm willing to bet thats the extent of your vocabulary. I do enjoy the game, they just took so much out that its hardly an rpg any more. and I commented on the storage space only because todd howard stated they had to squeeze it onto the disc, while oblivion takes up more disc space. yes I am a fan, if you aren't why comment about the game?

Thanks!

Dont fret the silly remarks - some of us appreciate them. You clearly have the "gamers" attention to detail and some folks waited and paid and can only tell themselves its perfect. Its good for gamers to gain perspective in a market that is oversaturated with great titles at the moment. Sounds to me like waiting may be the best bet for this one....

*sigh*

Interesting that you make a comment about personal attacks yet you do the same. I guess you are no better than the rest of us. Anyway, why sit here and do all this complaining? Why not just enjoy the game for what it is and not base it off the predecessors? Play the game for what it is and not what you want it to be. If you trulely like the game then say it and not have it buried under insults and complaints. As for being a fan. I'm a fan of a good game and this is one of them. I play videogames to have fun and I am having fun playing this game. The exploring. The quests. The stories are all great. I just don't see any reason to complain.

@gamer989

I agree with you, I should not have buried my love of the game in all the disappointing criticisms. If I wanted to kiss bethesda's ass I'd do it on twitter. @ HCstella, This is still a very good game, just with alot of the OG rpg elements stripped out. It still is the only game I've played since tuesday.

Just a piece of advice. . .

I understand this post is rather late but it's necessary. Insulting one's intelligence simply because they do not agree with you is probably not a good idea. I apologize if I offend you, but, you may get more positive reviews if you refrain from sounding like a whiny and offensive brat.

I do not agree with you, however. I am not a programmer and do not even have the slightest clue in regards to programming or creating games. So, I'm going to take a guess and assume programmers and/or software engineers have found new techniques to make files that take up less space now. I could be wrong, but whatever.

Again, I know this is an outdated post, but I have not logged onto this site for some time. Anyway, happy gaming and try to exercize a little more respect in your posts/reviews. ;)

System Lag

Is anyone else having lag issues on the PC version? My PC far exceeds what the game needs and it is laggy as hell. I've even turned AA of and that barely helped. I can play BF3 on ultra. AMD needs to release a CAP stat. Other then that the game is awesome so far.

I played this game hella stoned for 10 hours straight and loved it

I picked it up at midnight and played till dawn... The glitches are not that bad and so far the game is fucking awesome. I love both the new crafting and perk systems. Oh yeah and they allready have a patch out day 1 so all you dissenters can like go play COD or something because if you don't have the patience to lose yourself in the epic fantasy world the Bethesda has created... than you are really not that hardcore of gamer.

skyrim

game is amazing battleaxe swinging WOWSERZ!!... just finished a 27 hr marathon on it ... lol .. and in all that time i only did three main storyline quests lol ... skyrim is massive... buy this game dont worry about glitches and bugs .. worry about other things like paying bills taxes, and if that hot chicky bird you gave your number too is gonna call you ... dont miss out on playing skyrim because of glitches and bugs ...

Archaic Consolized BS

This is one of the worst console ports I've seen in a while. The UI is complete CRAP for PC users. This should in no way got the score it did for PC. It was a lazy port and the score should reflect that. Oh and let's not forget all the BUGs infesting this game.

I guarantee that this moron hasn't even played the game.

The UI is crap on PC

It's pretty much one of the sorriest port jobs I've seen in a while, especially coming from a formerly PC exclusive developer. The interface isn't even good on consoles to begin with. Stupid Apple wannabe bullshit.

Oh you know that it's bad on any platform?

Stop and think for a minute how stupid that sounds. I'm playing it on my PS3 and while it took me about an hour to get used to the UI there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

I don't care about hype. I buy games based on my interest in the genre. It's just disheartening when a game gets praised and the Debbie Downers of the world hop in whinging about things based on something they read elsewhere.

Anyway, no time to argue, I have to get back to Skyrim. Playing games is much more fun than complaining about things that don't matter.

Inferiority complex about computers? I've built systems 10 times more powerful that anything you've ever seen. It's my business. I don't play games on them though and I don't care who does. I just don't like people saying stupid things they can't back up.

It's bad

The UI by itself is poorly conceived. Why do you think that's mitigated merely by being on a console? Bad design doesn't become un-bad on a different platform. There are plenty of console players who don't like it either. They're all lying I guess, must be some conspiracy against you and Bethesda

Who gives a shit if a game gets praised? Maybe you should look deeper and find whether the praise is merited; or just blindly follow review sites with Skyrim ads plastered all over their front page..

'Macho' 'cruz'

The interface is fine on consoles. I can't speak for PC, but I've never cared for the mouse/keyboard combination. Personal preference there. As for your allegations, Machocruz, I'd like to see a composite list of the 'plenty of console players who don't like it' that you seem to have contacted to support an arbitrary comments section spat.

'Bad design doesn't become unbad on a different platform.' Just like 'stupid comments based entirely on a singular experience don't become good comments simply because I say so'. Get your head out of your ass.

Perhaps you should consider that simply because you don't feel a game received praise doesn't mean that it doesn't. Maybe you're just an atagonistic prick looking to stir up shit in a place where you know you'll draw the most attention. Maybe, just maybe. You're wrong. You're certainly a dick, if nothing else.

Gee, let me see.

User interface: How a user interacts with a game. Yes obviously that's exactly the same with 100+ keys and a mouse as it is with a gamepad. NOT!

Nobody is blindly following any reviews. I haven't even bought the game yet. I rented it first. I just don't get the hate based on trivialities. "Oh god, I can't press ALT X to access function Y. This game sucks!"

Wuff

And maybe you're just a hype-slave cocksucker, and a little sissy who can't take criticism of the products he/she thinks define him/her. All you have to do is go into other forums to read console players complaining about the UI (like I did, because I wanted to know the console player's opinion. Which almost unanimously that the UI is shit), or asking any friends, provided you have any, and that they have any taste or sense or haven't made up their minds ahead of time to defend a game at all costs. Someone made a criticism about the UI, and you went off on some imbecilic rant, full of personal insults...because you take this shit personal. Looks like it's not about the game, but your ego and sense of self-worth tied to inanimate objects.

themoth: the UI is what you see on screen, the menus, how they are arranged, how they are nested within each other, the ease of accessing different information, ease of customization, the available options and their efficiency of use. No change of control (which is an input device, not a GUI) is going to improve the fundamental design of the interface.

And I didn't say the game sucked, I said the UI sucked. The game itself -the writing, quest design, world design, interactivity, etc.- is OK or Pretty Good. And don't try to act like your above some shit now "well, I'm going to enjoy the game rather than complain, durrr." You were the one complaining about the complainer. Jeez.

whoa

whoa. chill the fuck out. the UI is obviously very important to RPGs, can't u guys have a civilized conversatin about his shit?! i havent played skyrim (so i guess i should shut up) but this is an interesting point - seeing as so much has been made of the new fangled UI the game uses - id like to hear whats wrong with it. pray tell...

RE: Oh shut up.

@wolfIn one single post you've managed to label me as a PC elitest, slander me and insult me just because I don't have a hard on for Bethesda as much as you do. Wait .. lemme say rephrase that in terms you'll understand. "u mad bro?"

Of course it's a different story if Skyrim was made for PC, ported to failbox and the UI wasn't Applized for your consideration, your QQing would be totally valid. Right?

Meh

There are some things I'd like different but I'm just glad it's as clean looking as it is for the very least.

I've played daggerfall, morrowind, and oblivion all on PC, and I have to say this game is FANTASTIC. Just enough in every area to make this game incredibly fun and never really break you out of the immersion.

All I can say is that while I disagree with your assessment of the UI and potentially in on the game as a whole ("worst port ever" is a very etreme way of looking at it in my opinion), I can appreciate your right to express it.

Great Post!!!

PC or Console

Now I havent really upgraded my PC in a few years, rocking 8800gt OC, because Ive always gotten by with what games ive played wow, starcraft,etc....my main gaming is on consoles. Besides graphics is there any upsides to having this on PC vs Console?

well

severl people tried to get me into oblivion a few years back, i tried like twice and just wasnt interested, a year or two ago i picked up an old character and it just clicked, its one of my favorites now. you just have to love singleplayer

I do not know :(

I never played an Elder Scrolls game before, but I love the Mideval / viking ages of dragons etc. Plus the graphics, the story of the game, and the open world make me want to get it. Also I could use a different genere from racing and machine guns.

Is it a game that will be great for 1st timers and not leave me confused and scratching my head?

Maybe

I'd say if you were new to RPGs this is not the best place to start. Elder Scrolls are amazing games but I think the amount of stuff you can do and how big the world is will blow your mind. I'd say go for something a little less complicated. Something like Dragon Quest VIII. It's a nice story, decently sized world and humerous.

Entry Level Skyrim

@innis - I disagree. Skyrim has been streamlined so you don't need to worry about class or archetype. Simply design your character and head into the world. You don't have to do anything you don't want to... the concept is a little daunting at first - but the good thing is there is no "wrong" way to play it.

I wish I still have time to play this type of games

Dark Souls and Skyrim are two games that are really good, but demands your time and attention. But I think these games would be perftect for a portable device. Maybe when PSP 3 comes out with an almost as powerful as a PS4.

I find personally

These games to be just fine to sink in maybe an hour or so at a time. You dont need 10 set hours to play, you'll want some to get started but everything is always so new and fresh you won't mind leaving and coming back to it.

Thanks

Why?

I enjoyed the article's clarity an honesty. But now when playing the game I'm going to be watching out for the things that didn't give this game an A+ Why do I do this to myself haha. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing a little shock therapy won't heal.

Ummmmmm,I dont know

Sounds like alot things are a step backwards from Oblivion.I will likely stll get this cause I have waited for a new Elder Scrolls for 5 years,but still,ths review was a bit of a let down.As or the glitches,I'm sure Bethesda will put out a update soon.

Boo ya ...

No surprise here. And now my girlfriend will have to suffer because of this title's awesomeness. I will be so broke by the week's end when I think of all the games I have to get, and that's only for one console lol A great year to be a gamer.

man

my credit cards are taking a huge hit this year...... as soon as I'm done with dark souls, I'm giving this baby a go. I (stupidly) traded oblivion GOTY edition and I've been aching for some ES.... this year was awesome.

Bugs and patches

I expected bugs, and I wasn't surprised that it was announced last week or so that there was going to be a release-day patch for Skyrim, which these reviewers likely had to do without. I doubt it will fix all of the bugs, and much can be said about developers releasing glitchy games with the intention of patching it later just to get it out the door (crap practice), but I'm not terribly worried. Actually, the only detail that disappoints me is the carry-over of Oblivion's "taint of shame" on stolen items. I ALWAYS play a sticky-fingered character, at least at first, and I shouldn't be harassed by a shop owner for stealing a copper bowl or something from some abandoned farm house where no-one saw me do it. >:P I know, I can join the Thieve's Guild yadda yadda, it's just silly. That said, I expect it to kick ass, and I've always loved this world. Giddy!

should be a good one for a bloke like me

solid review with plenty of good info. thanks. i am looking forward to this game quite a bit, although i am probably not going to get started on it for a while due to a backlog of games i still need to play. i enjoyed 'oblivion' but like was stated at the end of the review it seemed rather ugly graphically and i found myself doing a lot of aimless drifting due to a lack of direction toward the start of the game. i didn't find it amazing like many did. of course, i consider myself a bigtime RPG fan, but i am fairly new to playing ones with the scope of the Elder Scrols games, having been more of a fan of the action-RPGs over tha past several years. I played through the game of the year edition over a period of about 18 months. it gave me a good 100+ hours of RPG goodness, but like i stated earlier, i had some issues with it. it seems from the review that the enhancements in Skyrim are going to be very good for me. it will appeal to my more superficial action-y gaming tastes while at the same time pushing me to explore more depth that only these types of games offer. i am putting off playing for a bit so that i can devote more time to it and really get engrossed in the world it creates, not because i don't think i'll like it.

good review...

...but I'm still not sold to the game, Oblivion was way too much of a disappointment for me and really boring overall. Might get the game later, for now I have to prepare for Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land :D

LOL!!

it's great to be me

All of Bethesda games bored me to death. Even if the world is massive and has huge content and hours of gameplay, i'm still not a fan of these types of games plain and simple. Great for you if you like them but i have other games i rather play.

Assassin's Creed is almost here and that's what I'm really looking forward too.

"kill this random NPC or clear X cave"

They won't have much back story to them, and that's about the big difference with that. Kinda like the arena subquest in Oblivion. Not much of a story, it was just a series of fights with some chatter in between. Once you were #1 gladiator, you could go back and fight more foes to keep your title.

About the glitches....

I for one don't know a single person who appreciates any glitches in their game let alone find it charming. Would you go spend $12 on a movie ticket only to have the sound go out during most of the movie and sit there saying how charming it is? Yeah...I'm not buying that "charm" remark one bit.

I have to disagree

Who doesn't get a laugh at silly, harmless glitches, like RDR's "pony girl" or airplanes spawning too low in GTA: San Andreas and unexpectedly smashing into buildings? Stuff like that doesn't hurt the game, and it's hilarious to watch. A game-breaking glitch is unacceptable, but I don't know anyone who's seen that in Skyrim. In our book, that means no harm/no foul. But we did mention them in the review so anyone who takes offense will know to steer clear.

I disagree with your disagrement

You may actually finding bugs funny or amusing, but in any case you should be laughing AT the game, not with the game. This game isn't meant to be a comedy, I personally am well past the stage of finding poor programming issues as comical. There are plenty of big developers who constantly deliever much more polished (even if not perfect) experiences.

Every bug I run across throws me out of the experience. I can agree that bugs are bigger issues for some than others, but I really don't buy the opinion that sloppy issues is "charming". If that's the case, New Vegas charmed the hell out of my PS3 freezing it up numerous times. How cute, right?

Ok....

This is a good review, and I always like these back-and-forth reviews.

But I'm surprised by how quickly you dismiss any sort of glitch. Maybe it's just me (and that's fine), but these are near-game-breaking for me. Especially in Bethesda games. I can't really fault your review for it - we react differently to these type of things - but for me personally, I can hardly tolerate them.

Personal opinion is personal?

For the glitches I understand your concern, but I've heard that it's not as big of a glitchfest as Oblivion or Fallout 3, that's not my problem here though.

My problem is that you're saying that Oblivion and Fallout 3 aged poorly. Where do you get such an idea? Oblivion (for all its flaws) is still loved by people. And don't even get me started on Fallout 3. I don't even really like Fallout 3, but I realize that a large majority of people loved it, and still do. So what this really comes down to is your personal opinion of these 2 games.Furthermore, simply asking if a game will stand the test of time is pointless, there is no way of knowing if Skyrim will still hold up in 10 years. There was no way of knowing that Resident Evil 4 would hold up as well as it has, or how about Ocarina of Time. You're asking a question that no one will know the answer to until several years have passed.

People just came to their senses

and started admitting all the flaws that Oblivion had. It was already aged poorly when it came out, having done nothing to improve upon or add to the open-world RPG concept, not to mention wonky looking characters and animation, numbskull AI, wretched voice acting and dialog writing.

This isn't our first time hearing this.

When Oblivion first came out there was this "Wow..." factor that I think influenced almost everyone that played it, but there are those that noticed these things early on. It's not like this is the first time we heard of these things. But going out on a limb and saying it aged poorly? Or even it was poorly aged to begin with? Really?

Oblivion may not have drastically altered the open-world RPG genre, but it was easily one of the most immersive games at the time. Still is if you ask me.

Aging poorly

Actually, I myself don't think it aged poorly. Whatever a person thinks the game has to offer, it still offers that. That anyone implies that there have been any great leaps in 5 years is silly, they are obsessed with the idea that things constantly advance.

There haven't been ANY great leaps (besides presentation and QA) in video RPGs since the 90s, of which Oblivion is just one example, an example that just got a lot of hyperbolic praise. I say it was aged on release because the problems didn't just pop up, they were there from the start. Also it felt aged because of some things it did that were more primitive than 10 year old games. But you could really say that about a ton of RPGs before or since, or any genre.

This is what you want to freak out about?

Try running 16 square miles, tell me how you feel afterwards. 16 square miles is more than enough space. Plus Oblivion was only 16 square miles as well and that took forever to get from one side of the map to the other (without fast travel mind you). So the way I see it. You don't have any sort of arguement here. You just are trying to find something to complain about.

the other two repliers...

Also don't know what a square mile is. As far as "4 miles long," nobody ever said it was 4x4 miles, so I don't see where original poster saw that. Latch43 is also wrong in correcting, as a 16 sqmile area could indeed be 4 miles in length.

The idea of "running" 16 square miles might've just blown my mind. Chronon must be a powerful wizard of some kind to be able to run in a non-linear fashion.

Sixteen square miles isn't four miles in length.

Clearly if you square one mile, and multiply it by sixteen, and then take the entire universe and make it into a tube then you get:

Tube = 2(x)Universe.

Now take the sixteen miles we had previously discussed and divide that by the Universe Tube (multiplied by two, of course) and YOU ARE A FUCKING RETARDED PERSON WHO DOOMS SOCIETY BY COMBINING IRRELEVANT AND INHERENTLY STUPID ARGUMENTS AND COMBINES THEM WITH INCORRECT MATHEMATICS.

Here's your facts

Fallout New Vegas- 14 or 16 sq miles (assumed since the maps of FO3 and New Vegas were said to be about the same size)

Morrowind- 10 sq miles

GTA4- 6 sq miles

GTA San Andreas- 13.9 sq miles

Also, you must be playing too many 2D games if you think it's not possible to run 16 sq miles. To run 16 sq miles you run 4 miles, turn 90 degrees to the left or right, run 4 miles, turn right or left again, run 4 miles again and turn right or left once again, and then run 4 miles one more time. at this point you should arrive at the same place you started unless you decided to not run in a square fashion.

Hmm, couple things to respond to here...

Yes, I assumed roughly 4x4. I figured they wouldn't want to make the world terribly narrow, so they'd try for a fairly balanced shape.

Also.

While sixteen, or even four miles may seem daunting, it really isn't all that much distance, even on foot. Last Saturday, in a moment of cabin fever I walked ten, and I was just fine afterward.

Here's what my original line of thinking was. Appearently in Elder Scrolls games there are, mountains, forests, cities, rivers, and all sorts of interesting terrain, not to mention numerable monsters and other races. It just struck me that sixteen square miles is an awefully small amount of space to stuff all these things, realistically speaking.

Plus, I'm told Elder Scrolls games often have horses. They may not be as fast as cars, but you can still cover a lot of ground darn fast on a horse.

I'm not an Elderscrolls player, I was just surprised that these supposedly huge games were so small.

Tubes? WTF?

Okay, the tube guy sounds like some idiot undergraduate physics student who got excited over some complex idea and is trying to find a situation to reiterate what he learned. No, in length, we don't know the exact length because the map is a perfect square. However, 16 square miles would be 4X4 miles or any other combination of numbers with a product of sixteen. I agree with the original poster, sixteen square miles seems like an awfully small space for the amount of content that's been publicized. But then again, Todd Howard did say that this was the most densely populated game world they've ever made.

Jesus

@Chronon

Thanks for the data on other games, that's good to know! Some of those games are reeeaaally big.

Like I said in my first reply, I totally see where you are coming from. It's basically mountains, forests, gullies, caves, valleys, etc all crammed into an area the size of a large neighborhood? How can 4x4 miles possibly be so epic?

However, you still don't understand area vs linear dimension. You are describing running 16 linear miles in a big square, which is the same distance as running 16 linear miles in any other shape and has nothing to do with the word "square" in "square miles." That's okay, you don't have to be a geometry whiz to play some games and have fun. :)

The tube guy is wrong, too, but he sounds alot more ridiculous :) I think he was trying to make fun of me, but it's not really workin'. peace, guys.

What about mountains and dungeons?

If I understand correctly, there are 16 square flat miles. In otherwords, the X and Y axes. But what about the Z axis? There are undoubtedly at least a few dungeons which go underground and have playable surfaces on top of them. Then of course you have the mountains which go upward, and I've already seen there are a great deal of land markers on mountains. So if the 16 square miles we're talking about only takes into accounts the X and Y axes, or the length and width of the area, then who knows how much more mileage is added by the Z axis - or depth.

Even if the 16 square miles includes all three dimensions, it's still plenty big enough for me. I can't really see how anybody could complain about the size of the playable map in Skyrim.

(edit)

Well, after thinking about it I guess the mountains wouldn't really count for the Z axis unless there were playable surfaces which ran parallel with the outside surfaces. There probably isn't much of that actually happening. What I said about dungeons running underneath other playable surfaces still applies, though.

my only

concern for this game is, yes, the well known Bethesda glitch-fest. Once in a blue moon, things fucking up, is fine. But if it becomes consistent and I start having to repeat questlines because of lost saved data, or completely corrupted saved data (ie. start over), I'm gonna be damn pissed.

But I'm still buying this at midnight tonight. I have a long weekend from work (for some reason I have friday off!) and I will more then likely play as soon as its installed, for the greater portion of the following 72 hours.

Also, like Jeremy, this is the Elder Scrolls thats finally pulled me in. The others I've played, and liked mildly, but Skyrim is the first to get me pumped on release. That could attest to the sheer lack of quality RPGs in recent months, or games in general (idgaf about mwf3 or bf3), but STILL.

question on the review...

... i think one of the guys mentioned he played it on the 360.... is this true of both...? while i dont own a 360, im debating whether to get it for PC or PS3... most likely for PC, but its still a valid question.... i bought Oblivion for the PS3... and Morrowind on the PC...

I'd go PC

I would assume both played it on 360. Theirry mentioned using trigger buttons, Jeremy mentioned playing on 360. Though Theirry could have used an Xbox 360 controller for the PC.

But the specs for the PC version are actually pretty low. About the same as Fallout 3 actually. The only thing to consider is that it is a Steamworks game, like New Vegas. It's something I like in that Steam automatically patches games for me. But it's up to you to decide if having Steam is a deal breaker for you, or if it even matters.

want a new computer

Great review. It makes me want to pick it up even more, but I always get suckered in by Bethesda games and get broed. Still I think when I've got a new computer this will be a must get. I could possibly play on what I've got now, but it would be on low low settings and that doesn't seem to do it justice.

I wonder...

What I wonder, and will find out Friday, is if I have to use a torch like in Oblivion. Fallout 3 had a light around the character avatar, and Skyrim is supposed to be much like Fallout but with improvements. I wonder because I hated Oblivion's need to carry a torch in dungeons and any other darkish place. The Fallout light was great, not a flashlight I had to find batteries for, not a torch that would burn out, and not any sort of tool I had to equip in one hand. It was MMO-style. It let me immerse myself into the game and game world without having to worry about realism in that sense.

Also, how long will I play before I find my avatar stuck by the environment?

However it is, it is a day one purchase. 12 hours, and the pass to Skyrim opens to me.

I like torches

but I always like that degree of simulation in RPGs. I remember when RPGs had you buy your own map in a store, or in Might and Magic you had to have the Cartography skill in able to have an auto maps. You had to have skills for almost everything in those games.

Why.....

Mixed feelings about this one

I dunno. Call me "jaded" but no matter how grandiose rpgs turn out to be I kind of loathe it when their companies rush the release so the game launches with a lot of bugs. You can say this is justified when compared to the massive scale but I find Japanese rpg developers and Bioware in particular tend to be better with their quality control right out of the gate.

An Elder Scrolls iteration is always a decent purchase but usually not until several patches and a "Game Of The Year" edition later.

Honestly take away the fan fare and I think this game would be more of a "+B" if it's faults were truly factored in as well instead of being dismissed right before the final grade.

However, I imagine it's tough to gauge because as someone brought up before me, not everyone will experience the same glitches.

I love the attention to detail in this review (It covered a lot of ground with meticulous gusto) but with games such as this it just comes off as if there's too much bias slanted towards giving them an "A" simply to fit in with the rest of the gaming media consortium.

But hey, after I buy Skyrim in the future maybe I'll see "why" it got an "A"! (Even though after playing Oblivion GOTY I didn't understand what all the hype was about then either. It was good but not "great".)

No way I'll be buying this until it's bundled with its patches and dlc.

All the reviews I read for New Vegas said the same thing, "yeh, there's bugs, but nothing game-breaking..." Bullshit. Literally EVERY one of them said that. I won't be buying this until it's fixed, because I know better now. I'm sure Youtube will be full of people showing what the real problems are with this game. I know that NV was an Obsidian game, but I just don't trust Bethesda anymore...

There difference is how the game plays out

Especially in the case of JRPGs. But both Bioware and a large majority of JRPG developers throw you in more confined areas with strict limits on what you can do gameplay-wise. Invisible walls and such. Glitches and bugs are much easier to catch in such controlled environments.

I'm sure the glitches were factored in anyway. The game got a score of A-. Not A or A+. Two pegs down from perfection. Given such a high score still, it goes to show you how strong the game actually is. And I'm not sure how long you've been visiting this site, but the two reviewers covering this game are about as objective as it gets when it comes to reviewing a title.

On the same page

With Bethesda you have to play it smart Jay! Glad I'm not the only one that dismisses "bugs" as "part of the charm" as it were. Guess I'm a "bug hating bigot"! Anything that can potentially nerf my items, glitch me into a wall, corrupt my save data, unintentionally kill off important NPCs, or make me fall through the map is unacceptable.

(In Fallout 3 I encountered all of those, darn it! Should have waited for the GOTY edition as opposed to getting the useless collector's edition)

I actually think....

Bioware is getting worse with the whole DLC business. Their DLC packages lately have been subpar, and they seem to be doing more and more pre-order DLC, which of course, is always different for each store, making it impossible to get alll of it most the time.

As far as release date stuff goes, you have to think about each game differently and also consider the publisher and dead lines they put on the developers. Sometimes it's not the the fault of the creative minds behind the game.

There aren't many games, if any, that have the massiveness that an Elder Scrolls has. If they fixed every bug, we might never see the game. It's nice to have a complete bug-free game, but you have to be realistic at the same time.

Been coming here since it was part of EGM...

I couldn't play my NV save game until 2 months after the game was released. That is just unprecedented for such a huge release (though not for Obsidian, it seems) and unacceptable. I enjoy Bethesda's games too much to not get them eventually, I just no longer consider myself one of their beta testers. I know all about backing up my saves, using multiple slots, and saving often, trust me. I'm not questioning the integrity of the reviewers here (I did with NV, as I refuse to believe that the people who reviewed it in all of the publications I read did not encounter "anything game-breaking"), but I'm definitely waiting until the game gets squared away properly before picking it up.

Bethesda aren't the only game devs with glitchy ass games

First off I wouldn't say that Bioware manufactures glitch-free games were I you, as Mass Effect, ME2, and Dragon Age Origins all at one time or another forced my to either reload a save (stuck in the environment) or hard reset my 360 due to a freeze. DA Awakening corrupted an almost endgame save causing me about 3 or so hours of lovely backtracking. Of course New Vegas has all of those titles beat put together in gamebreakers but wth..... Oblivion and Fallout 3 however never outright broke on me personally. And as far as JRPGs go they are generally made completely differently from WRPGs but even some of those are a bit glitched out (ex. Infinite Undiscovery).

All in all, I still love these games even though they piss me off to no end sometimes, I'm sure that Skyrim will be tolerable as well even if it has fairly frequent bugs (which it probably won't have too many after the day 1 patch).

Very comprehensive, good work!

Only issue I have, and I honestly can't criticize the review itself because I haven't played the game at all, but I am sort of iffy on deducting points for some relatively cosmetic bugs. Every game has bugs today, some of which are game breaking (Fallout New Vegas), and some which are just whatever (like a mammoth falling from the sky).

In a game like this, I think only game breaking or seriously annoying bug should actually affect the score. Not everyone is going to experience the same bugs, and many will be addressed by patches. So, yeah, I think the score and justification is fine...I just personally would not deduct points for what seems like rather inconsequential glitches.

Good Question.

I thought the same thing myself, but I didn't want to be risked being labeled as a fanboy, lmfao. I own both consoles, but I now buy all Bethesda games on the 360 because they don't seem to support the PS3 versions as well as they do the 360 versions. Maybe it's just been my experience. Then there's the DLC exclusivity issues........

Spoilars!!!!!

WHAT? The main quest concludes with a fight against an evil "boss" dragon? Followed by a cut-scene? Skyrim ruined (or as Jeremy would say, "roo-eend"). Thanks alot Parish, why bother even picking it up tonight now? ;)

Great review guys, thanks!

P.S. Sorry to hear that "1up Presents" is done. Call me old-fashioned, but I really enjoyed having some of the sites editorial content in print. I just can't comfortably take my laptop in the bathroom...

Great review!!

I feel the score is justified, given the technical issues. As was stated in the review, you just expect them from Bethesda, and so long as they're not game breaking, they almost add to the charm. I'm liking the new leveling system from the sounds of it. I always felt constricted by my class type in Oblivion, but I never really regretted the path I took. Sometimes, I just wanted to pick up a bow and drop an enemy from afar, but I'd either miss or not kill in one shot. I LOVE the fact that the world and quests change by your actions. There are few things I despise more in an open world game than freelancing a quest, then finding out I need to do it over again because someone is tasking me with it. It really takes you out of the game. Sounds like I might not resurface until the Spring. I'd like to apologize to my wife ahead of time.

Glitches and bugs

do absolutely nothing to add to the charm. I'm not saying that some can't be accepted or forgiven given the scope of the game, but they shoud in no way be encouraged. If these glitches are any where near the level of FO3 or New Vegas, I couldn't justify an A rating for this game.

I'm certainly not encouraging them,

but as was said, in a game of this sheer size and scope, they're to be expected. Almost add to the charm. ALMOST.

New Vegas was completely unacceptable, but I dealt.

I don't remember anything major in Oblivion, and the review said that Skyrim is improved over that, so I'm not too worried.

But it is a shame that in 2011, and the fact that we're now paying $60 for pretty much every major release, that these technical issues persist. It goes to show that our technology still hasn't caught up to our ambition.

It's a huge game

I would expect a huge review. How can you reveiw a game of this size and scope in a single paragraph, and do it justice? They left no stone unturned and have thoroughly described their likes and dislikes. Well done!!

Read much?

LOL

I don't expect Sykrim to be reviewed in a single paragraph. Or else every person on the internet would think they're a professional reviewer. I guess, what I mean is something needs to be done about the length of game reviews. I'm not talking about just 1up, but pretty much every site out there. We all know people scroll down to the score and don't read it. Well, four pages isn't doing anyone favours.

Hate to say it, dude

halochief_90:

I see your point and I know what you're talking about, but I still disagree. The more in depth detail you give me, the more confident I am in laying my hard-earned cash down. Isn't that the responsibility of game reviews?

Er... yeah

Skyrim definitely wasn't the best game to start a debate on the length of reviews. To be honest, I didn't like Oblivion (the length of the game was a huge factor in this), so I'm honestly not the least bit interested in trying Skyrim.